Even though West Nile virus continues to be very serious there isn’t a known vaccine for it yet that works on humans. There has been some success with vaccines for West Nile on birds and horses though. This is good news though and it means that hopefully one day there will be one for humans as well. Many people become very ill due to West Nile and it can even result in death. With a vaccine it would help to offset the problems people have due to it.
There have been some reports that conclude the West Nile vaccine for horses may be causing some reproductive problems though. There has been an increased number of foals being stillborn or with deformities. In many of these cases the owners of the horses gave them the two required doses of the West Nile vaccine. Not all of the horses suffered this adverse affect though and so the warnings about it have been wide spread. This allows horse owners to decide if they want to take that risk or not.
Other tests have found that the West Nile vaccines give to both birds and horses can have an adverse affect on their neurological system. This is very negative information that these types of West Nile vaccines may need more studies done and therefore not be given to animals. Yet studying how they are affected can really help with the research needed to find a positive West Nile vaccine for humans.
The process for developing any type of vaccine for humans is a lengthy one. There many trials that have to be completed. The studies need to cover a long span of time so that the effects of the vaccine can be seen. You don’t want to risk giving people a type of vaccine that can help them initially but then result in serious health problems for them down the road. Funding for such projects can also become hard to come by and these types of tests and experiments are very expensive.
In the mean time while the quest for a West Nile vaccine is in the works, individuals need to be very careful. They need to do all they can to protect themselves against mosquito bites. There is no way to know which ones of them are carrying the bacteria that will cause West Nile. It certainly isn’t a risk worth taking.